That's Not Who I Am...
by Kole1
Summary: Story about a group of light warriors who strive to strike down the Prince of Hate, Innoruuk.
1. Nektulos Forest

That's Not Who I Am... Chapter 1: Nektulos Forest  
  
Aelas sat down and opened his spell book, examining his previous scribings of the spell "Burst of Flame" trying to memorize the finer points of the spell. It was an easy spell to get, but he wanted to cast it faster to get the edge in the battles. He walked up the path to the log. The log was a huge fallen tree right off the path in Nektulos forest that everyone chose to rest and meditate on. It might have been because of its placement. There were a variety of faces resting on that big knotty log, which was now wet and smelly because it had just rained . Ogres were mumbling their broken English to eachother and bonking eachother on the head while laughing like the neanderthawls they are. Trolls were speaking raspilly back and forth while sharpening their blades. Then there were the other Dark Elves, who reamained reserved, talking only every once in a while.  
  
All of these odd races have a tentative relationship with eachother because of one thing, they are dark. We are all hated throughout Norrath. Whenever a dark race got near a light race, they were quickly taken care of, simply because of their existence. Nektulos had always been the choke point for lighties, as theyre called by other dark races, because it is home to a fantatical militia of dark races who go out of their way to make sure no person of light blood lays eyes on the dingy walls of Neriak, the Dark Elf City.  
  
Aelas despised his home. He hated everything about it from the dark and dankness of it to the fog of hate that lay so thick on the ground the path has to be shoveled before it can be walked. He saw the whole war between the races as a poinless waste of life and energy. That's probably why he was agnostic. He chose not to follow the God of Hate, Innoruuk. Innoruuk was the symbol of all that was wrong with the world. If only these blind idiots would see what they were doing through their blinding shroud of belief! Pretty much everyone hated him for his views on the war.  
  
Neriak is a city run mainly by Necromancers, so everyone who doesn't follow the path of pulling corpses out of their graves to fight for them is given icy glares on the wet streets or Neriak. Aelas chose the path of a Magician because he didn't want to depend on the service of others to get what he needed. He'd have a companion in his pet after he got one and could summon food and drink whenever he needed. It was a choice of convenience more than anything. It had its downsides though. Pretty much every merchant and commonperson whom he crossed paths with would refuse to talk to him. Merchants charged outrageous prices for the most common of wares. On more than one occasion, he caused fights in bars and banks because of things he'd say. That's why he had a bad reputation.  
  
As he hoisted himself onto the log, an ogre with a big scar across his cheek pulled him down to the ground and Slammed him into the log. Aelas slid down to the ground, his back against the log. He gasped for breath as he cluched the part of his chest that was slammed.  
  
"You deserve that. You no believer of hate!," the ogre said, barely making sense because his snaggled yellow teeth caused a whistling when he talked.  
  
"God, why the hell.....ugh," Aelas coughed up a fair amount of blood.  
  
"You lucky I not do more, oh wait, me have idea!" the ogre grabbed Aelas's staff, which was already cracked and snapped it in half, then threw the sharp pieces at Aelas.  
  
One of the pieces hit him, splinered side first and caused a bloody gash on his right cheek. The other Ogres laughed and egged him on, as the assailant danced over Aelas's nearly unconcious body. He then proceeded to dig through his backpack, looking for something else to hit him with. All the backpack had in it was some parchment with spells scrolled on them and some Malachite, the magic rock used for element summoning.  
  
"Rock pretty, I keep. I have troll friend who like to burn tings, I give paper to him. Ta-ta, non believer!" The ogre then issued one final insult, he picked Aelas up by the throat and tossed him onto the rocky path in front of a black wolf. The Ogre and troll troop then walked off, laughing as they lumbered into the forest, just laughing their huge asses off.  
  
The wolf sniffed Aelas and growled. The wolf sensed the warmth still left in his body. It tugged at Aelas's already ruined robe with its razor sharp teeth. Aerlas regained conciousness and rolled to the side and got to his feet. His whole body hurt like it had been tossed off a cliff, but he had to run. It was a long haul back to Neriak, where at least the guards would save him. He limped/ran back to the city entrace with the wolf nipping at his heels all the way. At the city entrance the guards made short work of the wolf, scoffing at his inability to take on such a weak beast. Aelas collapsed on the ground before the entrance to regain his breath and strength. He must have blacked out for the night because he awoke laying face up on the forest floor looking up at the canopy. Barely any light shone through. What did make its way into the forest was reflected off the fog, giving the forest a dingy green glow.  
  
His home within Neriak was in the Tower of the Spurned. Aelas made his way there and walked in. The Tower was for people like him who chose Jobs other than Necromancy. The sub basement was where his home was. He had a "room" at the end of the bottom hall. More like a cell. It had a cot, bare mossy walls, and no windows. His only light was a dimming lightstone embedded into the wall above the cot. The rent was one gold piece a week, affordable at least. There were always people coming and going through the hall outside. He had no door, only a tattered curtain to separate him from the others. Sometimes people would come into the room not knowing what it was and start staying there overnight.  
  
The more evil denziens of Neriak held a huge grudge against the Spurned. Sometimes an especially dubious person would wander in and start causing hell, there have even been deaths because of them. There is at least one Anti spurned group out there whose main purpose in life is to cause trouble for us. As it happens, this day would be the day no one wanted to happen.  
  
Aelas had been sleeping all day, trying to get rid of the pain and stop the bleeding. It was about 3 o'clock when he awoke to put some more bandages on. He was sitting on his bed bandaging his face wound when his curtain parted. Rays of light poured in when the shadowed form of another Mage, Casta, walked in and leaned against the wall.  
  
"How 'ya feeling?" Casta asked, almost sarcastically.  
  
"Great! I've got to send a Thank You message to that nice ogre. I needed a good face shredding" Aelas said, retorting to Casta's smugness.  
  
"Ahh, suck it up Ae, you'll be fine. The guild headmistress wishes to see you, by the way. Must be something about yesterday. Good luck" Casta said.  
  
Aelas stood up and stretched. He was stiff, but he could manage. The headmistress, Jayna D'Bious was on next floor up, so he headed up there right away. A summons to the Headmistress of the guild was not taken lightly.  
  
"Hail, Aelas." Jayna said. "Please take a seat."  
  
"Listen, about yesterday, it wasn't my fault, that buffoon just came up to me and started roughing me up."  
  
"I know that. But............"  
  
An explosion rocked the tower. Intense heat filled the basement as pieces of the ceiling started to crumble. They then heard the unmistakeable clatter of bones and metal that could only be skeletons start down the stairs into the basement.  
  
"Damn! The Anti-Spurned! We have to get out of here, now!" Jayna D'Bious shouted.  
  
The hallway was filled with flames, skeletons, and corpses. The skeletons cackled as they killed the helpless people in the hall. Jayna started chanting and all of the skeletons disappated into blue balls of light as a ray ripped through them. They continued to run up the stairs. It was a long run to the top of the tower and they avoided the lobby and any other main rooms that more skeletons would be in. The got to the top of the tower and walked into the observation deck. They got about two steps into the room and the statues lining the wall started to life. There were about five other people with Aelas and Jayna at the time. A skirmish ensued. Aelas casted Fire Flux, but it was useless. The statues were immune to flame. Four of the others were slain by the staues. Then the tower started rumbling. It was collapsing!  
  
"The next building! Jump to it!" Aelas called to Jayna and the other person.  
  
The anonymous person jumped first, he missed his mark by about 5 inces and fell into the alleyway. Jayna jumped, making it to the edge flawlessly. The statues closed in on Aelas as he made his jump. He barely dodged an axe swing as he leapt from the balcony to the adjacent roof. He was short. His fingers clasped onto the ledge of the roof as he dangled helplessly. Jayna grabbed him and started to pull him up. They both looked down at the stranger who fell. He was being run through by a skeleton. The tower collapsed into the ground. They had made it out safely, but countless others had died.  
  
"I have something I want to do, Jayna." Aelas said stonely, showing no emotion.  
  
Aelas walked up to the temple of Innoruuk wearing a black robe he found and holding a challice. He walked up the steps, paying no attention to the explosions, screaming, and riot going on behind him. The main chappel had an altar to place to make offerings to Innoruuk. Aelas placed the Challice on the altar. The Challice was filled with poison. Out of the Temple to Innoruuk Aelas walked, not looking back. He made his way out of Neriak, not looking back. Aelas walked out on his home, disguised, without looking back. There would have to be a better place for him out there. He had no home among the damned. 


	2. Freeport

That's Not Who I Am... Chapter 2: The Commonlands  
  
Raires ploped himself down on a wet rock. Parched, he pulled out his canteen and shook it, only a drop was left. He guzzled what was left of it and tossed it to the side. The scene before him was a dingy one. He was in the middle of nowhere, the commonlands to be exact. It was pouring rain and he was seeking shelter under a tree. An awful day indeed. Raires was a Half- Elf Paladin on a mission in the commonlands to hunt down orcs and bring their scalps back to the hall of truth. That kind of thing was looked on with favor by the rest of Freeport as the Orcs were a menace to the common residents. His leather armor stank, it was wet and unbelievably hot. The wetness just made it harder to move.  
  
CRASH.......rmmbub rmmbub........boom  
  
Quick to his feet, Raires hopped up and into battle stance with his Axe. The sound came from the north, the entrance to Nektulos forest, the training grounds of the Dark elves. Out of the shadows ran a dark elf in a tattered black robe, followed by some skeletons and other dark elves.  
  
"Die infadel!" The pursuer shouted as he started to cast a spell. A ball of flame hit just where the running Dark elf was, singing the ground where it hit. A very, very close call. The running dark elf ran toward Raires.  
  
"You have to help me!" He sobbed, obviously scared witless. His eyes were desparate, begging for mercy. Raires held a deep seated hate of dark elves, but this one was in too much trouble for a knight of truth to turn his back on, no matter how evil he may be. Quickly Raires hopped to action. The Skeletons charged. There were three of them. One was taken down with four consecutive axe swipes. Another closed in, weilding a scimitar. Raires bashed him with his shield, sending the sword flying and the skeleton toppling over. Quickly, another volley of swipes consumed the fallen skeleton. The remaining one knocked Raires on his back and pinned him down, laughing. There was a spell Raires used for these situations. He quickly chanted "Spook the Dead." Instantly the skeleton was up off of him, running and screaming. Raires pulled out his bow and arrow and fired at the running skeleton. It was pinned against a tree and a final one shattered its skull. A ring of fire swirled up around him and was closing in. He looked for a break in the wall but there was none. He would need all of his agility for what he was about to do. Quickly he vaulted straight up and back. He did a back flip as he reachled the top of the wall to avoid toasting his boots and landed straight outside the fire wall with an inch of space between his nose and the blaze. The caster tried to re-cast, but couldnt pull it off in time. Raires' axe held the same hate for darks elves as its wielder. Soon the caster was nothing more than a bloody corpse on the ground. The other caster, obviously a necromancer tried to summon another pet to fight for him. Too late. He suffered the same fate as his friend.  
  
Raires collapsed onto his knees, obviously tired from his quick fighting. The dark elf, clearly not accustomed to such a run, was on his back taking deep, struggling breaths.The darkie got up andsat down on the stone. He felt the cold of blade on the back of his neck.  
  
"Alright spawn of Innoruuk, back to the darkness where you belong. I saved your hide this time, but now you must leave our lands, lest ye be smitten by my colleagues. I am much more merciful than them." Raires said with his authority as a Knight of Truth.  
  
"Gasp....gasp.... don't hurt me, please. I mean none of you harm! Can't you understand!? Or are you like the rest of them?" Said the Dark Elf, clearly still winded.  
  
"What do you mean 'like the others'?" Raires said, puzzled by the statement. He lifted his blade and heard the Dark Elf's case.  
  
The Dark elf told his story. All about his hatred for the rest of his race and how he wanted with all he had to be amongst the good races.  
  
"Let me get this straight, Aelas,You wish to join us, despite you heretage? Such a thing is unheard of. But I like it that not all of you are bad" Raires said, almost feeling as if he had converted one to his side.  
  
"No no no, all of us are bad, Im just the exception to the rule. Don't go trying to convert any of them in there, they will kill you and sell your head." Aelas said matter of factly.  
  
"I see. I am glad you are interested in joining our side, but we have a problem. How in the world are you going to prove yourself... It's a predicament in deed." Raires said, lost in thought.  
  
"It won't be easy. If the light races are half as stubborn as the dark ones, we are in serious, serious trouble." Aelas said, lost in thought like Aelas was.  
  
"I know a place where you can stay until we figure this out. I have hear of but never seen an underground sewer system where those who arent accepted in freeport dwell. I know it may not be that great of a place, but you can come out at night and we can train." Raires Said.  
  
"I guess it will have to do" Aelas said in a sigh.  
  
After a little bit of detective work, they were led to the East Freeport Gates. There was a small broken grate in the wall off to the side of the main gate that was an entrance to the sewers. Aelas and Raires bid eachother farewell for the night.  
  
The next couple of months were pretty uneventful. At nights, Aelas snuck out with Raires and hunted in the commonlands until dawn. Soon Aelas learned to summon elementals. They grew quickly from then on and soon were formidable opponents to and creature who challenged them. A dark elf merchant they met in town told them that the number one way to get into Freeport and Roam safely was to kill the orcs for their belts. They did just that until almost everyone accepted Aelas. Now he could walk freely and hunt any time of day, which further cultivated his growth. They soon became powerful. Raires could now deal out as much damage as a warrior and heal as much as a cleric. Aelas could summon great elements and cast a great a spell as a wizard. They were a great pair in battle, but their greatest challenge lay ahead of them. Old wizard lore told of a powerful realm where the Prince of Hate himself resided. In order to prove himself once and for all, Aelas wished to defeat Innoruukand claim his place amongs the greatest of ranks. That would only come after much more training and travel, but he was determined. Soon there would be a revolution. The Darkies wouldn't know what hit them. 


End file.
